Making Up My Mind

It’s common for kids to be asked what they want to be when they grow up. Throughout my younger years, my answers have varied from doctor to pilot to fireman to lawyer. Lawyer was pretty much what I stuck with by the time I graduated from high school. Late in my college years however, I slowly began to feel that I wanted to be a photographer.

Before graduating from college, I was offered a job by my thesis adviser as a research assistant for a development research non-government organization. How could I not feel flattered by a job offer coming from your own mentor who tells your future boss that you performed very well in class? How could I not feel flattered by the fact that I was being offered a job while everyone else had to line up somewhere? I took the offer.

It wasn’t until last June that it really hit me. I was in Ayala Center Cebu one Saturday and stumbled across an exhibit hosted by Artastic. I picked up a brochure from the University of the Visayas New School of Art & Design advertising their certificate course in photography. The more I pondered about quitting my job and enrolling, the more I wondered why I didn’t think about pursuing photography right after graduation.

Today, I wonder why my mind has to be so fickle with regards to career choices. I gave up law school for this job and now I’m thinking of giving up my job for photography school and hopefully making it big in that industry. Perhaps part of the reason why I’m seriously considering enrolling is that I’m getting tired of my current job, but that’s a topic for another article if I get the time to write about it.

Maybe I just don’t know what to do with my life. I’m a “come what may” sort of guy who tends to go where life takes him. That’s how I landed my current job. After all, I grew up thinking I was smart enough to succeed wherever I end up. But I was wrong. I know now that happiness and a sense of fulfillment are far more important in a career than an above average IQ and a degree.

Now I’m in my early twenties, fresh out of college and new to the employment force. I know that the decisions I make now will shape my life forever.

I know it’s not too late to go back to school. I have friends who have gone back after graduation to chase their dreams.

I know I want to pursue photography. Picking up my camera and shooting feels far more satisfying than sitting behind a desk, crunching numbers and writing reports.

It’s time to stop taking what’s handed to me like I always have and forge a path of my own. It’s time to stop feeling guilty about not knowing what to do with my life and find my own purpose. It’s time to pursue this passion.